The Group of Twenty (G20) is an informal forum in which the world's major economies discuss global financial and development issues. The G20 is made up of 19 countries, the European Union and since 2023, the African Union. The 19 countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
South Africa assumed the G20 presidency, which is annually rotated amongst its members, on 1 December, 2024. Its presidency, the last of five consecutive presidencies from States from the Global South, will be followed by the United States. The Group of 20 (G20) failed to issue a Communiqué or Chair’s Statement after the second meeting of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, which took place on 23 and 24 April on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, DC.
The South African Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana and Central Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago held a press conference on 24 April. The press conference was followed by a media statement. During the press conference the minister sought to downplay the significance of the lack of communiqué, noting none had been issued since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Regarding the absence of a Chair’s statement, he noted that the South African presidency had decided prior to the meetings not to issue one in Washington and that a Chair’s Statement can be expected after the next meeting in July. In contrast with the more propitious – if still very challenging – environment faced by last year’s Brazilian G20 presidency, which was able to maintain a focus on international financial architecture and make some progress on taxation and other important issues, the South African press conference and media statement at the Spring Meetings left little doubt about the fraught dynamics within the Group resulting from the change of administration in the United States and the equivocal stance of other Global North States in response to it. While the very short media statement optimistically noted that, “the meeting delivered productive and constructive discussions on global macroeconomic and financial stability, the international financial architecture, and Africa-specific priorities,” this represented a far cry from international architecture reform desired by South Africa and other G20 members from the Global South and those advocated by the G77 + China in the preparations for the Fourth Financing for Development Conference in Spain this summer (see Observer Spring 2025).
Rather, the minister, governor and the media statement’s engagement with international reform issues reflected the narrow space for agreement in the face of what has been described as strong US obstructionism within the G20 and other fora. It is clear from the press conference, media statement and from discussions with officials from the Global South during the Spring Meetings that the US positioning has decidedly dampened the prospects for significant progress on key issues within the G20 and beyond. Rather than addressing governance reform and reinforcing calls for a more representative and egalitarian international order reflective of evolving economic and political realities, the document’s references to agreed reforms were limited to, “advancing the Monitoring and Reporting Framework to track implementation of the G20 Roadmap for bigger, better and more effective Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs).
[Confirming] plans to develop monitoring indicators with clear, measurable and focused outcomes. In addressing the need to increase the level of development financing, members supported new initiatives to promote blended finance and private capital mobilisation. They further agreed to strengthen multilateral cooperation to tackle heightened debt vulnerabilities and liquidity challenges, and to promote augmented debt transparency.
Members also approved a process to improve the Common Framework.” Regarding Africa’s worsening debt crisis, which will undoubtedly deepen as the global economic conditions deteriorate as a result of US tariffs, Minister Godongwana gave the floor to former South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel who is chairing a new high level panel to tackle Africa debt crisis. Mr. Manuel noted that the panel is expected to deliver its output, even if incomplete, to the G20 at the ministerial meeting in August. He expects the process to continue beyong the G20, perhaps under the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa umbrella and emphasised its likely focus on jobs.
Replying to a question at the press conference about proposals for reform to the G20 structure, including the establishment of a permanent secretariat, the governor stressed South Africa had decided not to add items to the finance track, as there are no means to delete them once added. Instead, South Africa will focus on streamlining the processes with a clear emphasis on reducing the cost of cross-border payments in Africa, as these are extremely high. The governor also stressed that streamlining is necessary, as issues in the sherpa track have tended to find their way to and “cloud the discussion at the finance track” and in this instance contributed to preventing a communiqué.
Unsurprisingly, and sadly in line with the general approach by the World Bank and IMF during the Meetings, the document and press conference conspicuously neglected to mention the need to urgently address the worsening climate emergency, its gendered impacts or to ensure the G20 acts to strongly to support a just transformation. Commenting on issues discussed during the two-day meeting during the press conference, Governor Kganyago stressed that participants had debated the uneven impacts of the financial instability resulting from the tariff and trade measures undertaken by the US (although unnamed by the Governor) and had acknowledged the benefit of globalisation, need to enhance a ‘rules based’ system and to ensure “uncertainty does not become the new certainty.” In an obvious nod to the US administration, the Governor also stressed that participants recognised the need to address trade imbalances. In that regard, Governor Kganyago echoed the words of US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent during his speech at the International Institute of Finance Global Outlook Forum in which he called on the IMF to monitor and identify policies that contribute to trade imbalances.
Remarking on the challenges faced in the wake of the instability and damage caused by American tariffs and policies, the governor noted that all agreed that the financial system remains stable and robust, stressing that the regulatory steps taken after the 2008 financial crisis have, “shielded the financial system well.” In short, as widely expected, the arrival of the Trump administration has significantly complicated the already challenging prospects for progress within the G20 and beyond it on key issues, including international architecture reform, climate change and other issues of global economic justice.
